Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research

Los Angeles, CA 90044

Abstract: Radio interview program on the Blacklisting of
Los Angeles Teachers.

Language:
English.

Administrative Information

Provenance

Donated to the Library by interviewer, Dorothy Doyle.

Access

The collection is available for research only at the Library's
facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday
through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library
indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library
for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed
only with the express written permission of the Library's director. It is not
necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission
for publication, it is as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.

The individual collections within the Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles Collection share a common historical framework, the Anti-Communist
fervor of the Cold War Period and what is commonly referred to as the McCarthy
Era. After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union
engaged in the ideological battle known as the Cold War. The identification of
communists and other radicals through the use of federal and state legislative
investigative committees and the punishment of those identified through firing
and blacklisting comprised a successful U.S. tactic. The investigations spread
from federal and other government employees to the entertainment industry, the
professions, labor unions, and the private sector. The major players in these
campaigns included, on the Federal level, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In California major players included
California State Assemblyman (later State Senator) Nelson S. Dilworth, and
State Senators Jack B. Tenney and Hugh M. Burns. All three served on the Joint
Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California (1945) and first
Tenney and later Burns chaired the [California] Senate Fact-Finding Committee
on Un-American Activities. Of special note are the Levering (1952) and Dilworth
(1953) Acts. The Levering Act made refusal to fully cooperate with any state
committee grounds for firing a teacher and the Dilworth Act gave local school
boards investigating authority and also required that all teachers sign an oath
denying any Communist affiliation.

Biography

Educator and political activist Dorothy Doyle, a former member of
the Southern California Library board, taught English at Crenshaw High School
and Southwest College. Catch 222 was a KPFK (Pacifica) radio education program
hosted by her political and educational colleague Jeff Horton during the 1980s.
Doyle was also involved with the The Integration Project

Scope and Content

This collection consists of one audiotape of a radio program. "The
Blacklist" was aired September 23, 1986 on the CATCH 222, education program on
Pacifica Radio station KPFK. The program consisted of a discussion with 1950's
blacklisted teachers, Florence Sloat and Ruth Bishop, and ACLU lawyer Fred
Okrand. The interviewer was Dorothy Doyle.

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